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Sunday, September 15, 2013

Guest Blogger: Effort and Persistence

We are lucky to hear from guest blogger Rob Reetz: Professional Learning Specialist, Moundsview Schools and TC2 Residency faculty this month. Rob writes about the importance of and how to encourage students' effort and persistence.

In 2010 Daniel Willingham authored
a book that asked Why
Don’t Students like school?His
answer? Thinking is hard. It’s hard for people of all ages. In fact, our brains
naturally reduce engagement during routine activities as a vacation from all
those times we force them to think deeply. It is as though the human mind would
prefer to not think.Yes, thinking is
hard, but it’s also never been more important. The kindergarten students that
learn in 2013 classrooms will retire in 2073. Is there any doubt our schools
are preparing students for a future we can’t predict?As Dylan Wiliam says, today’s learners must
be capable of success in situations for which they are not specifically
prepared.

So thinking is hard, and
thinking is important. Thus, it is imperative students learn to persevere and
maintain effort in the face of thought fatigue.But what can we do as educators to encourage
students’ effort and persistence, and what are we doing that discourages their
effort and persistence?

How do educators unintentionally discourage
students’ effort and persistence?

1.Through inequitable grading practices.Traditional
grading methods rank among the greatest drains on students’ effort and
persistence.
Reeves (2010) argues grades elicit an emotional response and wrongfully signal
an end to learning. Worse, letter grades provide poor feedback on learning. If
you disagree, ask an “A” student to list their academic strengths. Many will
struggle to specifically articulate learning strengths, mostly because the
primary feedback they receive is in the form of an A, B, C, D or F (which
really tells them nothing).Even when
teachers litter student work with all kinds of feedback, most students won’t
read much past the letter grade atop the page.When that letter grade is consistently average or below, students
develop a mindset that they’re “just not that smart,” thus reducing effort and
persistence.

2.By focusing on weakness. Schools are conditioned to
focus on student weaknesses rather than student strengths. We track the same
students in intervention classes designed to address areas of academic
weakness.Why do we do this? Yvette
Jackson (2010) writes of the Pedagogy
of Confidence, and states that student motivation to learn is directly
affected by teachers' confidence in their students' potential. If teachers
don’t act in ways that express belief in all students’ capacity to learn,
students will opt-out when learning becomes hard.

3.By lacking efficacy. Low self-efficacy among teachers leads to reduced
effort and persistence among students. In Finding
Your Leadership Focus: What Matters Most for Student Results, Reeves defines educator
efficacy as “the personal conviction of teachers and administrators that their actions
are the primary influences on the academic success of students” (Reeves, 2011).When teachers fail to see in themselves the
ability to motivate students when learning becomes hard, traditionally
underserved, unsuccessful students will persist less.

4.By ignoring performance character. Schools don’t traditionally teach students
important character traits like perseverance, grit, self-control, optimism, and
curiosity.
Tough (2012) argues that to help
chronically low performing but intelligent students, educators must first
recognize that character is as important as intellect. If we don’t help
students develop habits aligned with academic and intellectual success, they
will fail to persist when learning becomes difficult.

What can teachers do to encourage students’ effort
and persistence?

1.Grade more effectively. Teachers can encourage student effort and
persistence by providing feedback that is timely, targeted, and requires more
thinking and more work on behalf of the student. Whereas grades denote an end
to learning, comment only grading allows students to see failure and mistakes
as integral components of the learning process. In addition to providing actionable
feedback, teachers increase the effort and persistence of their learners when they
allow students to self-assess/self-grade their learning. When given the chance
to grade their own learning, many students become quite critical of their
understanding, and reflect upon what they might do differently to show growth.

2.Connect to students. Schools strong in Student connectedness graduate
students strong in effort and persistence. Delpit
(2012) writes that students learn as much for their teachers as they do
from their teachers.The stronger the
connection a student has to their teacher, their classmates and the curriculum,
the more likely they are to persist when learning is hard. School systems can
establish stronger connections to students and their families by becoming more culturally
and linguistically responsive. All teachers’ classrooms, content and actions
need to reflect and validate the home experiences of the students they serve.

3.Care differently. I’ve never met a teacher that didn’t care deeply for each of their
learners. We care so much, in fact, that we avoid addressing students’ failure
and/or unintentionally lower expectations and rigor. Teachers will show
students they care differently when they accept their struggles and failures as
necessary components of the learning process. Students’ effort sustains when
they aren’t penalized for the extra time they needed to learn content or show
understanding.

4.Learn from each other. Teachers can no longer view learning as just for
the students. Schools become vibrant learning cultures where teachers view each
other as leaning resources. When teachers start utilizing each other’s genius,
students will benefit and entire schools systems will give more effort.

If students don’t learn to
persist, gaps in student achievement will.School leaders across the country must begin to ask their teachers what
they’re doing to encourage or discourage effort and persistence so that
students can begin to develop habits and mindsets that yield increased success.
All schools can narrow gaps in student achievement and prepare students for an
unpredictable world if teachers begin to care differently by acting in ways
that ensure students learn to persist.